Burkhard Stangl

Burkhard Stangl, the internationally known electric
guitarist from Vienna, is best known as a member of the
seminal improv group Polwechsel; for his superb solo record
Recital; and for his five part, work-in-progress opera
Venusmond.

Mr. Stangl recently collaborated with Christof Kurzmann
on the record Schnee, inspired by four favorite movies of
theirs and by a quote from Swiss writer Robert Walser.
Schnee consists of four long soundscapes, with Kurzmann's
sedate electronics underpinning Stangl's atmospheric
plucking. Critic Dean Roberts has written, "Schnee is not
about freezing, it is about snow. Therefore, anything
'liquid' is gone, and has been transferred into a malleable
body&emdash;its grainy patterns and particles are what
Kurzmann creates circular asymmetrical patterns within.
Stangl's guitar is brittle, dissolving like icicle drops.
This record's beauty is in the critical fact that it
explores the differences in computer generated and acoustic
music, unlike a forced marriage of a systematic clash.
Strikingly, it finds its entry at the extremity of
fundamental difference between the worlds of the two
instruments. It is not reductionist&emdash;in that it does
not lack matter to its dialogue. Simply these two artists
are so assured and comfortable within the language that it
leads to saying less."